PESEB (formerly CCAB), Tuesday, March 26, 2013 — Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road) beat brother school Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) 9-6 to make history by winning the National C Division Championship for the very first time.

“It was down to who could play the game better today, but I think we managed to play pretty well because our coach told us to just focus and we already felt like winners before we stepped into the pool,” said Sean Tan, the ACS (Barker) captain.

For ACS(I), their run of five consecutive National C Division title wins came to an end.

“We made a lot of mistakes today – had more than a couple of bad passes, miscommunicated and were too nervous,” said Gareth Koh (#3), captain of ACS(I).

ACS (Barker) won three games and drew with Raffles and ACS(I) to finish second behind ACS(I) who won four and drew one to top the group. These two teams went straight into the gold-medal playoff. Hwa Chong Institution beat Raffles Institution 6–5 to finish third.

ACS (Barker) scored the only goal of the first quarter. Eramus Twang (#7) of ACS(I) intercepted a pass to prevent his opponent from attempting any shots, but his efforts were for nothing as the ball switched hands quickly to Ryan Ho (#12) of ACS (Barker) who powered home the first goal of the final.

The second quarter saw an explosion of eight goals. ACS(I) replied with an equaliser in the second quarter through Bryant Low (#2) after he received a long, accurate pass from his goalkeeper, Royston Kee (#1). Within a minute, Daniel Ang (#11) of ACS (Barker) had put his team back into the lead with a goal to make it 2–1.

ACS(I) took a quick 3–2 lead when Bryant Low (#2) and Lau Bao Jie (#4) scored a goal each. However, ACS(I)’s lead disappeared when ACS (Barker) scored four unanswered goals in a row. Bryan Cheng (#6) grabbed a deflected shot to score a goal and Yu Jun Jie (#10) added one to his name moments later. ACS (Barker) captain Sean Tan (#5) then scored two goals consecutively and his team took a commanding 6–3 lead into the half-time break.

ACS(I) scored early in the third quarter to revive hopes of a comeback. Lau Bao Jie (#4) reached the dropped ball first and his swift pass to Gareth Koh (#3) saw the latter score. However, their comeback was short-lived as they began making costly mistakes which ACS (Barker) capitalised on.

Sean Tan (#5) scored his third goal and he was followed quickly by teammates Daniel Ang (#11) and Yu Jun Jie (#10) who each scored their second goal of the match for a 9–4 lead heading into the final quarter.

Gareth Koh (#3) of ACS(I) scored the only two goals of the fourth quarter — one of them an eye-catching backhanded shot — as ACS (Barker) focused more on defending to close out the win.

Sean Tan of ACS (Barker) thought that it had been a well-played match with both teams having the same skills level.

“Today, we had done our best and did not give up even though ACS(I) are our toughest opponents in this competition,” said Sean. “They have fast swimmers and their skills are one of the best.”

The ACS (Barker) captain was proud of his team. “I want to tell them that they have done a very good job and also, to thank them for putting in effort. Our efforts have paid off (and can be seen) in our performance today!”